4 Snapchat Map Hacks That You Will Definitely Want To Know About

10 July 2017, 11:52

By Benedict Townsend

Snapchat has unveiled a brand new - and somewhat controversial - new feature. But what even is it? How does it work? And is it invasive?

Snapchat has got a brand new feature, based all around sharing your location (how delightfully creepy!) It's called "Maps", and it works by having people share their precise location, so that you can see where your friends are at any time. Expect to see it suddenly arriving on Instagram in like two months.

1. Become a ghost

Fittingly for Snapchat, the new feature has a 'ghost mode'. This allows you to peruse the new map mode without actually giving away your own location - perfect for when you want to check if you're accidentally in close vicinity to an awkward ex. Just select 'only me (ghost mode)' in settings to keep your location under wraps.

Image via Tech Crunch

2. Take a peek around the neighbourhood

Snapchat Maps let you see what's happening all around you. They even highlight big events and provide 'heat spots' for areas where lots of people are sharing their location. This feature is great for if you're in a big park enjoying the sun and wondering if anyone else you know is also hanging about there.

3. Or even the world

With but a pinch, you can zoom riiiight out and see what's kicking around the globe. Perfect for if you feel like an impromptu trip to Ghana to attend a very specific regional festival.

4. Have a lil' chat

This is Snapchat after all - you didn't think they could introduce a new feature without letting you have a lil convo in the process, did you?

Image via Tech Crunch

The real winner though, no matter what, is whoever owns the map app 'Zenly' - the technology that Snapchat bought in order make Snapchat Maps happen. How much did they buy it for? Oh just somewhere between $250 million and $350 million.

Hats off to Monsieur Zenly, the founder of Zenly, for taking a start-up app and selling it to a company that appears to somehow have far too much money to spend despite losing $515 million last year (sorry Snapchat, we still love you really).

Will you be using this new Snapchat feature regularly? Let us know in the comments below, or on our Facebook page.

Then make sure to check out the latest (particularly meme-tastic) episode of our weekly show YouTuber News: